


Parasocial Guidance

by SoVeryAverageMe



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Allusions to Canonical Character Death, Families of Choice, Gen, Ghost Reveal, Good Parent Ray Molina, Perceptive Ray Molina, Ray Molina Finds Out About the Phantoms, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28311201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/pseuds/SoVeryAverageMe
Summary: Ray doesn’t know if it’s the fact that Julie’s started singing again, but for the first time since Rose died, the house didn’t seem as empty. Sometimes he found his missing lens cap tucked away in his camera bag, his keys waiting for him on the hook by the door, or his laptop plugged in when he forgot to do it the night before. It almost felt as if she was watching over him.He chalked it up to his children helping him out, but both of them gave him blank looks when he asked.Of course, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.(Or, one day after the season one finale, Ray finds out that he can see and hear Reggie, but only Reggie.)
Relationships: Julie Molina & Ray Molina, Ray Molina & Reggie Peters
Comments: 28
Kudos: 229
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Parasocial Guidance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pluche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pluche/gifts).



> I just had to write a (last minute) Yuletide treat for this delightful show! 
> 
> The first season really teases us with the relationship between Reggie & Ray, so I wanted to explore that a bit!
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Ray doesn’t know if it’s the fact that Julie’s started singing again, but for the first time since Rose died, the house didn’t seem as empty. Sometimes he found his missing lens cap tucked away in his camera bag, his keys waiting for him on the hook by the door, or his laptop plugged in when he forgot to do it the night before. It almost felt as if she was watching over him.

He chalked it up to his children helping him out, but both of them gave him blank looks when he asked.

Of course, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.

* * *

It must say something about Ray’s life that he didn’t scream when he walked downstairs one morning to find a teenage boy humming a song in his kitchen. A boy who was very much _not_ a hologram.

Ray watched from the doorway for a few minutes trying to figure out what to do. He really wished that he had his morning cup of coffee before dealing with this. The boy finished tapping out a rhythm on the counter and turned towards him.

“Good morning, Ray!” the boy cheerfully chirped at him.

“Um….” Ray ventured further into the kitchen. “Hello?”

The boy screamed and fell _through_ the counter. Ray ran over to check on him, his hands hovering over his body. “Are you okay?”

“You can see me?”

“You’re Reggie, right?” Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head trying to gather his thoughts. “From Julie’s band?”

Something akin to a squeak left the boy’s lips before he _poofed_ out of existence. 

He knew that he should be more freaked out, but if he was going to make it through whatever was happening, he was going to need coffee. Starting the coffee-maker, he busied himself with preparing some toast and checking his email on his phone when Reggie reappeared in his kitchen. The sudden reappearance startled him, and he barely managed to stop from spilling coffee all over himself.

“I’m telling you Ray saw me this morning!” Reggie patted the air beside him. “Look he’s staring right at us.”

“Uh,” Ray looked at the empty air next to Reggie, “Who are you talking too?”

“Luke and Alex, duh,” he replied, pointing to two different spots beside him

Ray recognized the names as the other two members of Julie’s band but, “There’s no one there.”

“What?” A confused look of surprise was on Reggie’s face.

“I don’t see or hear anyone else.” He squinted his eyes at the empty air, trying to discern something that he might have missed, but no one appeared. 

“Dad?” Julie interrupted, yawning and raising her arms over her head. “What’s going on?”

Ray’s eyes flicked between Reggie and his daughter. “I think you have some explaining to do, mija.”

“Your dad can see me,” he said, punctuating the statement with a hand pointed in Ray’s direction. “But he can’t even hear Luke or Alex.”

From the way that Julie’s eyes focused on the empty air next to Reggie, he imagined that her other bandmates must also be talking.

“I don’t understand—” It was incredibly odd to hear someone be interrupted by absolute silence.

Following a conversation when you could only hear half the participants was difficult, and he eventually gave up. Instead, he busied himself with finally drinking his morning coffee. He knew he was going to need the caffeine for the inevitable follow-up conversation.

“Ah,” Carlos said, shuffling up to him in his pajamas. “You found out about the band.”

Handing him a piece of toast, Ray leveled his son with an even stare. “You knew?”

“Ghost hunter, remember?” He puffed up his chest in pride.

“The salt lines and camera actually worked?” A messy line of handwriting had added _‘bulk 50lb bag of Morton Salt’_ on his grocery list last week. He had shot it down immediately, but if ghosts were real, he might have to reconsider.

“Well…” Carlos paused to take a bite of toast. “No. But they had their photo on their old CD, and Google is the best ghost hunter of us all.”

The two visible teenagers must have finished their conversation with the invisible ones, because Julie turned expectedly toward him.

She clasped her hands together in front of her. “Dad, I’m sure this is a lot to take in, but I want you to listen—”

“Carlos said they were ghosts.” He waved his hand in the air, putting the pieces together in his head. “The rest of your not-hologram band, who I assume are living in our garage.” Now that he’s thinking about it, he could see all the things he missed. The band didn’t do a great job at hiding the fact they were ghosts. “And somehow people can only see the boys when you perform with them, except now I can see Reggie, but only Reggie?”

“Uh,” Julie took a step back. “Yeah… Actually. Pretty much.”

“You know, your mom didn’t make the garage a studio,” Ray leaned against the counter, reminiscing about another time. “We found it that way.”

“Really?”

“She said that it was a place that was meant to make music. The studio wasn’t only hers, but a legacy of everyone who came before, and those who would after.”

He barely had time to place his coffee on the counter before his arms were filled with his daughter. “Thanks, Dad.”

Hugging her back, he placed his chin on her head. “Of course, mija.”

They stayed that way for another moment before Carlos broke them up with a reminder that they still had eat breakfast before school. Ray ruffled both of his childrens’ hair before taking some bowls out of the cabinet.

Reggie had disappeared during their embrace, and Ray guessed that the other boys followed him out. Carlos finished his toast and grabbed a banana on his way back to his room to finish getting ready for school.

While he was on his second cup of coffee, Ray realized that something about their whole talk wasn’t sitting right with him. “Julie?”

“Yeah, Dad,” she laughed, digging into her cereal. “More ghost questions?”

“More like, Reggie questions.” He paused, trying to figure out how to articulate his thoughts. “Before he knew I could see him, he greeted me really cheerfully this morning.”

“He’s a cheerful dude,” Julie responded. “A real, bona fide morning person.”

“It’s not about that… it’s just,” he sighed, “after he found out I could see him, he barely said another word to me.”

“Reg has been spending a lot time with you.” She shrugged. “You know, back when he was still invisible. I think we were all starting to get worried about his one-sided conversations with you. At least you’re on equal ground now.”

“But wouldn’t he want to talk more now that we can have actual conversations?” Ray questioned.

Julie pursed her lips, tilting her head to the side. “He hasn’t said anything, but I get the feeling he didn’t have a great relationship with his parents. I’m not sure if any of them did.”

“When your mother and I were setting up the studio we found clothes.” He felt his stomach sinking at the realization. “They weren’t just practicing in the studio, were they? They were living there.”

What could have happened to them that led a trio of teenagers choosing to live in their band’s studio, rather than going home? He wasn’t quite sure how to feel about letting three teenage boys squat in their garage, but he wouldn’t kick them out. Not now.

“Should I give him space?” That’s what he’d do if it was Carlos or Julie, but there weren’t any parenting books about newly acquired ghost teenagers. “Just let Reggie get used to the idea of me being able to see him in on his own?”

“Mhmm…” she rested her chin on her palm, a thoughtful look on her face. “I’m not sure if that’s going to work with him. Do you remember the first time we went back to school after Mom died?” Julie rubbed at her eyes, and he squeezed her shoulder. “Carlos and I pretended the whole morning that nothing had changed. That everything was alright.”

“I remember.” Ray hugged her from behind. “I even made an extra cup of coffee just the way Mom drank it.”

“Reggie’s kind of like that, except all the time.” She shrugged him off. “Everything is always sunshine and rainbows in Reggie’s world.”

He slid into the chair next to Julie. “I guess I’m on my own, then.”

“Reg already likes you – why else would he spend so much time with you? I think he got comfortable with not being able to be seen. Sure, he couldn’t have any proper conversations with you, but he couldn’t mess anything up, either.” She stood and placed her bowl in the dishwasher. “And, if there’s a reason I can see the boys and make them be seen, then maybe there’s also a reason that you can see Reggie now.”

* * *

After Carlos and Julie both leave from school, he edited photographs on his laptop before his mind circled back to the situation with Reggie. Getting up to stretch, he could hear music coming from the garage. Without much thought, he found himself knocking on the door and sticking his head in.

He could hear other instruments playing, but all he could see was Reggie shredding on the bass. Knocking on the door frame, the music came to a crashing halt when they noticed his presence.

“Hi boys,” he awkwardly waved, tipping his head in their direction. “I was wondering if I could talk to Reggie?”

The boy in question shot a panicked look toward the air next to him. He didn’t say anything, but he threw one last glare at the empty space before turning back to Ray.

“So, I’m guessing we’re alone now? No other invisible band members hanging around?” he joked, trying to break the ice.

“If you don’t want me hanging out with you, I can totally back off,” Reggie covered his face with his hands. “I get that it was probably super creepy to find out I had been watching you like some domestic ghost voyeur.”

“No, no.” He waved to the couch. “Why don’t we sit down and talk about this?”

Reggie sat as far away as possible from him on the couch, curling his legs up underneath him. “I’m sorry that you didn’t know that I was hanging out with you, and my whole freak-out this morning.”

Ray played with a seam on his pants, thinking that this conversation would be easier for Reggie if he wasn’t looking directly at him. “I won’t say that I’m not surprised about this whole thing. Finding out that ghosts are real…” he trailed off, not sure how to continue, “It was a lot.”

“It was a lot for us too,” Reggie replied, a hint of a genuine smile on his face.

“You can still hang out with me if you want.” He tilted his head to look at Reggie in his peripheral vision. “I’d like to get to know you, if I can.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“My parents—”

“You don’t have to explain yourself now,” Ray said, cutting him off. “Someday, when we actually know each other, you can tell me all about yourself and the first life you had. Don’t force yourself to bare your soul because you think you owe me. You don’t.”

“Thanks,” Reggie replied, finally looking a bit more like the boy he first saw this morning.

“You know, we still don’t know if you’re corporeal to me like you are with Julie. I was a little bit too freaked out about the whole ghost-thing to test it out.” Ray opened his arms wide and waited. Reggie looked doubtful for a moment, before he flung himself into the hug. Squeezing as hard as he could, Ray could feel him shaking in his arms.

“We’ll get used to this. I promise, kiddo.”

“Are you sure?” came the muffled response.

“No,” He placed his chin on Reggie’s head. “But sometimes you just need a parent to tell you everything is going to be alright.” They stayed like that for few minutes until he could feel him regain his composure.

“Hey,” Ray said, releasing him from the hug. “I don’t know if ghosts eat or not, but I’m about to make some lunch. You want to help?

“Yes!” Reggie launched himself off the couch. “We can only eat under very specific circumstances. We found that out through this evil ghost named Caleb. He almost killed us. Again. Like, permanently. But, oh man, did he make a great burger and pizza and meatball subs…” 

“Wait—” Ray called out. “What evil ghost?”

“Oh, uh.” Reggie glanced at him and then raced out towards their kitchen. “It’s nothing. Just a blip in the afterlife.”

He shook his head, hurrying to catch-up with him. “I expect the whole story over lunch.”

Ray was just starting to get a handle on how to be a single father of two, but he imagined the number would be expanding in the near future.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
